The Battle of Carnifex Ferry

The West Virginia Review
November 1931

The Battle of Carnifex Ferry
by Roy Bird Cook

The battle of Carnifex Ferry, fought on
Tuesday, September 10, 1861, in the
opening days of the Civil War, may be said
to have had a profound influence upon subsequent
political and military history in
West(ern) Virginia. The little town of
Summersville, resting on the old Weston
and Gauley Turnpike, was then, as now,
the county capital of Nicholas County.
Formed in 1818, this county embraced
656 square miles in 1860 and had a
population of 4,627, of which only
76 were foreign-born. There were
in the county only 154 slaves, and
the citizens were only mildly interested
in politics and knew nothing
of war.

Benjamin W. Byrne rode over to
Richmond, sat in the noted Virginia
Convention, voted against secession,
and came home. Life went on as
usual. But slowly the Confederate
troops from the northeast and south
were closing in on the regions along
the "laughing" Gauley River. The
Federals from the west were doing
likewise. The old state highways
controlled the entire military situation.
General Henry A. Wise
(Confederate) and General Jacob
D. Cox (Federal) paraded up and
down the valley of the Great
Kanawha, while General George
McClellan and General W. S.
Rosecrans (Federal) operated in the
region around Grafton, Weston,
and present Elkins.

The James River and Kanawha
Turnpike (Midland Trail) wound
over Sewell and Gauley mountains,
down to and along the Great Kanawha.
The Northwestern reached
over from Winchester to Parkersburg
and was joined on the south by
the Staunton and Parkersburg, which
intersected the Gauley Road at
Weston. These were all joined by
the Weston and Gauley Turnpike through
Bulltown, Sutton, and Summersville to
Gauley Bridge. At the apex of the triangle
near Gauley Bridge two or three important
crossroads tied up the larger turnpikes. The
"Sunday" road left the" "Midland Trail"
about present Hico, and the Saturday road
left east of Ansted. These converged on
Meadow River, followed to the mouth, and
crossed to a junction with the Weston road
by a ferry called variously Carnifex, Carnifax,
or Carnifix.

This ferry operated eight miles southwest
of Summersville. Together with Hughes
and Brock's ferry, it was, for many miles,
practically the only crossing along this
rugged stream, which in its lower reaches
plunges down from 1,558 feet at Hughes
ferry to 677 feet at Gauley Bridge. The
site is a beautiful pool, at an elevation of
1,182 feet. At the time of the Civil War
it was 370 feet in width, and was crossed
by means of two flatboats. The road from
the crossing wound along the base of the
cliffs on the north side and left by a circuitous
ravine in a plateau that reared its height
318 feet above the level of the river.

On August 12, 1861, General John B.
Floyd, former Secretary of War, rode
into Lewisburg with troops raised largely in
southwestern Virginia, called "Floyd's Brigade."
He issued "General Order No. 12,"
and assumed command of the Army of the
Kanawha. He then outranked General
Wise, the former commander, and here
started the "battle of the ex-governors,"
which is another story. Wise urged Floyd
to hold Carnifex Ferry by all means, but to
be sure to stay on the south bank of the
river, where he could hold the place with
"250 men." It was "utterly unmilitary,"
he declared, to cross unless with a
force that could advance; but "cross
it he would, and cross it he did,"
wrote the old warrior to the Confederate
War Department.

In spite of Wise and his advice,
Floyd moved on, and on the evening
of August 22 crossed the Gauley
River. In doing this, however, he
lost four men, drowned, and also the
ferry boat; but, "I have been enabled
after some days' march to
cross the Gauley," he wrote to
Walker, Secretary of War, "at a
point near the village of Summersville,
in the county of Nicholas,
which we now command. It has
heretofore been held by a strong
force of the enemy, and constituted
an important link in their chain of
defenses between the Kanawha
River and the forces in the northeast
under Rosecrans."

Rosecrans, in the meantime, had
not been idle. On August 13 he had
ordered Colonel E. B. Tyler, a
former fur-trader in the territory,
but from Ohio, to occupy Kessler's
Cross Lanes with the Seventh Ohio
Infantry. On the morning of the
twenty-sixth the regiment was at
breakfast when Floyd fell upon the
camp, killed one, wounded twenty,
and captured ninety-six men. The
rest, under Major J. S. Casement,
escaped over the Elk River and
made their way to Charleston. Wise,
when he heard of this, called it "the battle
of the knives and forks."

But Wise had his own troubles when, a
few days later, he failed in an attack on
Cox at Gauley Bridge, and on the same
day, September 3, Rosecrans started with an
expedition to march from Clarksburg, by
Weston, to Sutton.

General Robert E. Lee, however, from
his headquarters at Valley Mountain, perceived
danger, and on September 8 informed
Floyd, "Your position seems to be
an inviting one," and further stated that he
"would recommend recrossing the Gauley."
When Floyd heard of the intentions of
Rosecrans, he fell back with his command
from Cross Lanes to Carnifex Ferry. Not
heeding the injunctions of Wise, he proceeded
to fortify the plateau, already mentioned,
on the north bank of the Gauley.

The defenses constructed consisted of a
parapet battery 350 feet long in the front
and center, flanked by breastworks
laid in a direct line with
the front, and curving back to
the ends, which rested on the
cliffs along the river. On the
left a double line of breastworks
was constructed. A
trench protected the battery
epaulment. The interior afforded
cover against infantry
fire and, to some extent,
against artillery fire. Some
protection was afforded in
front by a deep ravine, but at
the right and left there were
cleared spaces on slight ridges
protected by abatis. The whole
was protected by forest trees
and much undergrowth. The
ferry road at that time ran into
the ravine, debouched into a cross ravine,
in line with the parapet two hundred yards
away. A small by-road led to one side. It
was about a mile and one-half down to the
site of the ferry.

This fortified camp was officially designated
as Camp Gauley, and was located on
lands belonging to the Henry Patteson farm.
In front stood the Patteson residence, a
barn, and some outbuildings. The residence
is a frame structure, although some Federals
thought it a log house.
Some small adjacent
tracts of land were
cleared, and along the
road was a cornfield,
the principal open space,
later the scene of most
of the casualties in the
battle that followed.

Here Floyd decided
to make a stand against
the oncoming Federal
column. The day before
the battle was one
of intense excitement.
All kinds of rumors
seeped into the Confederate
camp, at most of
which Floyd scoffed.
Colonel Gabriel C.
Wharton, with the
Fifty-first Virginia Infantry,
was assigned to
the extreme left of the works, to be supported
by Captain John H. Guy's (Goochland
Artillery) Battery, and Captain S.
Adams Light Artillery, probably attached
to the Second Battalion Reserves. The
Forty-fifth Virginia Infantry occupied the
other end of the works, commanded by
Colonel Henry Heth, and also by Lieutenant
Colonel William E. Peters, adjutant
to Floyd.

It appears that the Fifty-first Militia
Regiment was engaged, as Lieutenant
Colonel William W. Glass and other officers
of this regiment were present. The
Fiftieth Virginia Infantry, under Colonel
Alexander W. Reynolds, was in camp a
mile out the Cross Lanes road, and later
defended the center of the fortification.
Colonel C. Q. Tompkins, with the Twenty-
second Virginia Infantry (First Kanawha),
arrived just before the battle, as well as two
companies of cavalry under Captain (later
Colonel) James M. Corns and Captain
A. J. Beckett, later of the Eighth Virginia
(Jenkins) Cavalry. Colonel John McCausland,
with the Thirty-sixth Virginia Infantry
(Second Kanawha), occupied the town
of Summersville. In all, Floyd had 1,740
men present and fit for duty, and, according
to the report of the U. S. Engineers,
he had nine pieces of artillery. This resume
represents the disposition of the
Confederate forces on the evening
of Monday, the ninth.

The town of Sutton, on
September 5, 1861, was
easily one of the most important
military posts in the interior.
It was occupied by a
force of almost five thousand
troops. Camps were on every
side. The Camden Hotel was
occupied by high officers. And
from the old suspension bridge
over Elk many Ohio and
Illinois boys with sore feet
watched others disport in the
waters of the river made
muddy by incessant rains.

General Rosecrans, from
this point, set out to organize his expedition.
He selected as his leader for the First Brigade
Brigadier General Henry W. Benham,
a graduate of West Point and a soldier
in the War with Mexico, who had
attracted notice on account of his operations
at Carrick's Ford in Randolph County.
Under his command was placed the Tenth
Ohio Infantry, Colonel William H. Lytle;
Thirteenth Ohio, Colonel William S.
Smith; Twelfth Ohio, Colonel John W.
Lowe; First Ohio Independent Battery,
Captain James R. McMullen; Captain
William West's company, First Virginia
Cavalry; and Captain
George Gilmor's company,
Virginia Cavalry.

Colonel R. L.
McCook was assigned
to the Second Brigade,
composed of the Ninth
Ohio Infantry; Lieutenant
Colonel Charles
Sondershoff; Twenty-
eighth Ohio, Colonel
August Moor; Forty-
seventh Ohio, Colonel
Frederick Poschner (a
native of Hungary, one
of the heroes of '48,
and former officer in
the Prussian Army); and Captain Frederick
Schambeck's company of Chicago
Dragoons, Illinois Cavalry. Company B of
the Forty-seventh was left to reinforce the
post at Sutton.

The various brigade commanders were
ordered by Rosecrans to organize their
brigades and select their staffs. Captain
William Schneider, of the Thirteenth Ohio,
with two rifled six-pound guns, was to support
other artillery, and Stewart's detachment
of Indiana ("Hoosier") Cavalry was
ordered attached to headquarters, subject to
orders from the general commanding. This
organization made up the column now to
move on into Nicholas County and open up
the Weston and Gauley road and effect a
junction with General Cox's army at
Gauley Bridge.

The Federal expedition moved out of
Sutton with a squadron of cavalry in front.
Then came the pioneers, followed by General
Benham with the First Brigade. Then
came McCook with the Second Brigade,
and Scammon with the Third Brigade.
It was a sight the old highway had never
seen before and will never see again. A
wagon train trailed out for five miles, with
ammunition wagons heavily laden, creaking
along in the hundreds of mudholes.

The poor Ohio boys in the infantry, who
knew nothing of army life, swore at the
fellows from Indiana and Illinois, who had
horses. The stubborn mules trudged along,
dragging batteries which now and then got
mired. The season had been one of intense
rainfall. Shoes, packs, and the like cluttered
the wayside. But late in the forenoon of
Monday, the ninth, the expedition moved
from Birch River and that night went into
camp eight miles from Summersville, on
Muddlety Creek, on the site of a former
Confederate outpost.

The news of Floyd's location came into
camp. Eight miles away, in Summersville,
was John McCausland, the energetic young
Confederate officer from Virginia Military
Institute, with the Thirty-sixth Virginia
Infantry recruited along the Great Kanawha.
The day before he reported to Floyd,
"I have ordered the wagons at the mill to
load and leave for your camp with meal
and other supplies."

Rosecrans moved forward on the morning
of the tenth, about four o'clock.
The advance guard reached Summersville
about 8:45. McCausland had discreetly
withdrawn ahead of the column back tc
"Camp Gauley." The route then led on
southwest by present Gad and Sparks to
Kessler's Cross Lanes. Near McKee's
Creek Crossing was a road that led to
Hughes Ferry on Gauley River, at the
mouth of Salmon Run. Colonel McCook,
with a squad of Chicago Dragoons, rode
down to the river and was fired upon by a
Confederate detachment. The Tenth Ohio
then came to the rescue, and the ferry boat
was secured and the march resumed.

One mile from Kessler's Cross Lanes the
command paused for a rest of short duration.
Benham's Brigade, with the Tenth
Ohio, under Lytle's leadership, was then
ordered to move down the road leading
from Cross Lanes to Carnifex Ferry.
Rosecrans cautioned him not to bring on
an engagement. It is clear that as yet the
exact location or situation of Floyd was not
known.

Meanwhile, Rosecrans found a steep hill
to the right, ascended it, and with his field
glass viewed the scene before him. Far in
front stood the remainder of the First
Brigade, drawn up in line of battle, facing
the direction the brave Colonel Lytle and
his "fighting Irish" had taken. On a slope
to the left stood McCook's Brigade, and on
the right, a little higher up, was Scammon's
Brigade. In the distance could be distinguished
the heights beyond the Gauley
River, and here and there a pasture field,
a field of corn, and a couple of farm houses,
the remainder enshrouded in forest.

On down the road moved the advance of
Benham's Brigade. Suddenly there came
a musket shot, followed by a straggling fire.
It developed that contact had been made
with a detachment of the Fiftieth Virginia
Infantry, under Colonel Reynolds, camped
along the road to the ferry. The Confederates
retired to the main camp, while
Rosecrans, in ignorance of the true situation,
ordered Benham to send Lytle with
the Tenth Ohio on down the road, make
a reconnaissance of the position, and support
the movement with the First Brigade.
Lytle by this time was a mile ahead of
the main troops, with companies A, B, C,
and E.

Suddenly the Federal advance found itself
face to face with the Confederate line
not three hundred yards away. Woods
were on both sides, except for a cornfield
along one side for part of the distance. A
perfect storm of lead came pouring in on
the Federal line, and the battle was on in
earnest.

It was then about 3:15 in the afternoon.
Benham from the front sent back a courier
asking for the remainder of the Tenth, the
Thirteenth (Colonel Smith), and the
Twelfth (Colonel Lowe) to move forward
at once. An observer recorded that "the
angry peals of musketry, sharp as peals of
thunder, grew fiercer, till the sound became
one tremendous roar." Captain Mack's
Battery and the First Ohio Battery, under
McMullen, moved down the road, and
soon four mountain howitzers added to the
noise from their positions in the road by the
cornfield. Fortunately for both sides, neither
artillery nor infantry fired with much
accuracy.

In the heaviest of this assault Colonel
Lytle dashed forward, leading an advance
with fixed bayonets, in an attempt to flank
the Confederate lines. As his troops emerged
from the woods he received a severe wound
in his leg, and the same shot mortally
wounded his horse. The animal dashed on
over the Confederate parapet and fell dead
inside. Lytle's gun and equipment fell into
the hands of the Confederate surgeon, Dr.
S. C. Gleaves. Lytle was carried into the
Patteson home, which had been vacated by
the owners, who had sought refuge inside
the Confederate lines. The house was
struck by missiles from both sides, but Lytle
survived the episode, recovered, and later
became a distinguished brigadier general.

In the advance, Fitzgibbons, state colorbearer,
when his right hand was shot off,
grasped the flag in his left and with a shout,
"Never mind me, boys; save the flag," fell
mortally wounded. Sergeant O'Conner,
national color-bearer, next carried it, and
he, too, was shot down. It remained for
Captain Stephen McGroaty to carry the
colors from the field. The line fell back,
formed again, and kept up a brisk fire to
save the wounded. The Tenth lost nine
killed and fifty wounded.

The Thirteenth Ohio now came in on the
left of the road. "A brigade consisting of
the Twenty-eighth Ohio, eight companies
of the Thirteenth Ohio, and four of the
Twenty-third Ohio (under Major Rutherford
B. Hays), and two of the Twelfth
Ohio regiments, was extemporized by General
Rosecrans," reported Colonel W. S.
Smith, "and I was placed in command and
ordered to carry the works on the right by
assault. I formed the command as above
constituted in the ravine (Pierson Hollow),
and was then ordered by General Rosecrans
to await further orders. We remained in
this position about one hour, when General
Rosecrans ordered me to move forward to
the attack. I reached the head of my column
and started out just at dusk. Before
we could march up it became dark and
impossible to see, so I then ordered them
out."

"In the meantime, at the beginning of
the action," reported Colonel Smith, "my
section of two rifled cannon, under command
of Captain Schneider and supported
by his Company E, 13th, took position in
road about four hundred yards from the
works. The guns were then moved to the
right and in full view seventy-five rounds
of solid shot and fifteen of shells were fired,
which did much damage to the Confederate
lines, tearing up logs and rails."

As Smith moved forward on the flanking
attempt, Colonel Lowe, with eight companies
of the Twelfth, moved into the
woods on the left of the road, expecting to
form on the right of Smith's column. The
plan was being carried out well, with Lowe
leading the men with cheers and a waving
sword. He was, however, struck in the
forehead by a musket ball, and died in a
few minutes. It is said that he had gone
into action stating that he would not come
out alive. He had been rather unjustly
criticized for failure of troop movement in
the battle of Scary Creek, in the Great
Kanawha Valley. His body was returned
to Xenia, Ohio.

McMullen's Battery was next moved
back of the cornfield, and began playing on
the Confederate batteries with some effect.

Rosecrans, at 3:45, took position with his
staff on a hill on the right of the "ferry
road," under fire, and directed the movements
so far as he could. Down at the
front a mere boy, Corporal Sullivan of
Company E, Thirteenth, aroused his comrades
by going through the midst of a
galling fire from the Confederates, ran
clear across the lines, and brought back
water for the wounded men. Adjutant
Hartsuff brought up McCook's Brigade,
which, with Scammon's, was then in the
old camp ground of the Fiftieth Virginia
Infantry. Scammon, at four o'clock, was
ordered to form in line of battle on a hill
fronting on the right of the Confederate
line. It was formed in two lines, the
Twenty-third in front, a detachment of
three companies of the Thirtieth, under
Colonel Ewing, in the rear, and Mack's
Battery a little in advance of the infantry.
Large numbers of wounded were being
brought back. The news of the death of
Lowe and uncertainty of the fate of Lytle
brought much uneasiness. The woods were
full of men separated from their commands.

A general advance was now started.
McCook - one of the noted "fighting
McCooks" - dashed madly along the lines
in a blaze of enthusiasm. Citizen's dress
and an old slouch hat made him particularly
conspicuous. Colonel Porschner, the colorful
leader of the Forty-seventh, objected
because his regiment was not put in action.
His regiment was designated a part of the
storming party, but did not go into action at
all. The Thirtieth had left Companies D,
F, G, and I at Sutton, and C and E at
Big Birch; but the remainder the next
morning secured a stand of colors inscribed
"Floyd's Brigade; the price of liberty is the
blood of the brave." Four companies of
McCook's own regiment (Ninth) were sent
far up on the Confederate left, where they
charged up almost to the parapet wall before
being recalled by the bugle. They lost
two killed and eight wounded.

The evening was coming to a close. The
flank movement of Smith had penetrated to
the Confederate lines on the right. Colonel
Moor, with the Twenty-eighth and four
companies of the Thirteenth, had joined
Smith, losing in the movement two killed
and twenty-nine wounded. Major Rutherford
B. Hayes commanded four companies
of the Twenty-third in the movement. The
future President of the United States wrote
home: "We worked down and up a steep,
rocky mountain, covered with a laurel
thicket. I got close enough just at dark to
get two men wounded and four others
struck in their garments. . . . It was a very
noisy but not dangerous affair." The rest
of his regiment was under fire in the rear,
in reserve.

In Company E was a private from
Poland, Ohio, named William McKinley,
destined, as the President, to command the
sons and grandsons of the men fighting
around him, in the Spanish-American War.

By this time, seven o'clock, it was so dark
that nothing could be seen. The men
had been without rest or sleep since four in
the morning, and had marched eighteen
miles. Rosecrans ordered the troops to fall
back. In an attempt to extricate the flanking
column the Thirteenth and Twenty-
eighth got separated in the woods, in the
shape of the letter u, and fired on each
other. By nine o'clock some semblance of
order was reached by the various units.
Colonel Ewing, with the Thirtieth, stood
guard only a few hundred yards from the
Confederate lines. Dr. Horace R. Wirz,
assistant surgeon, reported that the total
Federal loss was 17 men killed and 141
wounded, in an action that embodied five
partial assaults on the Confederate position,
lasting about four hours.

It is now well to look at the accounts of
the Confederate side, naturally somewhat
more simplified, as they were on the defensive.
Colonel A. W. Reynolds, of the
Fiftieth Infantry, gives the best report.
He says:

On the morning of the 10th, in obedience to
orders from Brigadier General Floyd, I moved
my regiment from our temporary camp, which
was about one mile in advance of the main camp
at Gauley, and took post in the center of the line
of log breastworks, and on the left of the earthworks
and the battery of four guns. The regiment
formed in line behind the breastworks at
2:30 P.M. Within a few minutes after I was
informed of the rapid approach of the enemy.
At 3:00 P.M. a heavy column moved forward
to attack us, which was gallantly repulsed by the
right wing after a sharp exchange of fire lasting
about twenty-five minutes, the enemy then taking
shelter behind some houses and haystacks beyond
the range of our fire, and from which position
they continued to fire on us with the Enfield
rifles. At 3:30 P.M. the enemy, having placed
their artillery in position, opened upon my line
a terrific fire of shells, grape, shrapnel, round shot.
and with a rifle cannon, which was continued
with little intermission until 5 P.M. At about
5 P.M. a heavy column (supposed to be an
entire brigade) advanced to assault our center.
Our fire was reserved until the enemy approached
to within one hundred yards, when a well-
directed fire from our whole line checked their
advance. After a contest of forty-five minutes
the enemy (notwithstanding the efforts of the
officers to rally them) broke and ran. About
6:00 P.M. a third attempt was made to force
our center, which met with the same result as
the preceding, our regiment awaiting the approach
coolly and routing them completely. In the early
part of the battle the fire of the enemy's artillery
was high. They attempted to enfilade my line,
which they failed to do in consequence of their
guns being disabled, by the fire from the battery
in the earthwork. At 7:10 the firing ceased and
the enemy retired from the field.

Floyd, as soon as it was clear that the
Federals had retired, wrote a letter to
General Wise, which he dispatched at eight
o'clock in the evening by Major Glass and
a Mr. Carr, who had arrived at the camp
at Dogwood Gap, east of present Ansted,
about one in the morning. "The enemy
has attacked me in strong force," he wrote,
"but I still hold my position; but I think
they will renew the attack in the morning
with perhaps increased force." Floyd having
received a wound in the arm, his name was
signed by the adjutant. Major Glass rode
Captain (W. E.) Peters' horse, and later
noted: "My young friends, Adjutant Peter
Otey, Captain William H. Cook, and Captain
Samuel Henry, also had the misfortune
to lose their baggage, tents, and beds, all
from neglect of the SERVANTS."

Such was the idea of war on the part of
young men from Bedford and Amherst.
On the other hand, Peter Otey, "finding
one of his men wounded, gallantly picked
him up and walked off with him in the face
of the enemy." Dr. Gleaves secured the
fine equipment of the unfortunate Colonel
Lytle, and the next morning Colonel Smith,
whose flanking attempt failed, acquired
Floyd's trunk and twenty-five wounded
men captured from Tyler at Cross Lanes.
In the night Floyd reconsidered his expressed view of
holding "Camp Gauley." He complained
bitterly over the failure of the Fourteenth
North Carolina and Third and Thirteenth
Georgia regiments to arrive, and decided
not to wait for any help from Wise. His
retreat was really remarkable.

The artillery was moved down to the
ferry, a distance of more than a mile, over
the most wretched of roads, cliffs on all
sides, and in darkness. Pine flares spread a
feeble light here and there; commands
became separated; horses slipped and fell on
the rocks. A log pontoon bridge had previously
been constructed, about four feet wide,
and across this part of his troops were
moved. One gun and a caisson fell into the
river. Others moved over in the ferry boat.
After the troops had crossed, the "laughing
Gauley" carried away the logs of the
bridge; the bottom of the ferry boat was
knocked out; and a rear guard took up post
at the mouth of Meadow River. The
movement continued with a pause at Dogwood
Gap, to wait for Wise to come up,
and then a more permanent camp was made
at Big Sewell Mountain.

Back at Camp Gauley the Federals,
under Colonel Ewing, moved in at six
o'clock on the morning of the eleventh.

It was not until the sixteenth that Floyd
noted that the Federals had "moved a large
force of infantry and cannon across the
river," where in the night, in a few hours,
he had moved his command. To Richmond
he reported that the "assault was made with
spirit and determination, with small arms,
grape and round shot from howitzers, and
rifled cannon. There was scarcely an intermission
in the conflict until night." The
retreat, reported Adjutant Peters, was made
"without losing a man."

Floyd considered the battle a decisive
affair, as far as the troops of the Army of
the Kanawha were concerned. The Confederate
Secretary of War conveyed congratulations
on the "brilliant affair," and
Floyd, from Camp Sewell, wrote to President
Jefferson Davis that the "same superintending
Providence that seems to have
protected our arms everywhere shielded us
again at this fight with Rosecrans."